Duality
by Risa1
Summary: Cole’s possession by the Source was not meant to happen – evil has been tampering with the balance between good and evil. Now, something has to be done to get rid of the Source within Cole. But what are the consequences? (Latest: Chapter 9)
1. Chapter 1

Duality

Chapter 1

By Risa

Summary: (A spin-off after The Three Faces of Phoebe) Cole's possession by the Source was not meant to happen – evil had been tampering with the balance between good and evil. Now, something has to be done to remedy the situation.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Charmed. Also, the Night World and all related concepts are the creation of L.J. Smith. I'm just borrowing them for my own use. 

Author's Note: A rather long note about some of the background information to this story that you should know in order to better understand what's going on.

This story is sort of a cross-over with the Nightworld series by L.J. Smith. Just some basic information about the books for those who have never read them – the Nightworld is like a secret organisation of witches, vampires, shapeshifters and werewolves. So far, all you have to know is that Darien is a vampire. There are two types of vampires – the lamia and the made vampires. All vampires have senses and reflexes superior to humans. They're also telepathic, although how strong that power is varies from vampire to vampire. The lamia however, are the type of vampires that can have children and age if they choose to. The made vampires don't have that option. There are two main rules of the Nightworld – 1. You can't tell humans that it exists. 2. You can't fall in love with humans. 

Then there is the soulmate theory – basically that there is one person in the world that you're meant to be with, and when you meet them, you'll know. This also happens between Nightpeople and humans, which is not allowed under the rules. In recent years however, there has been more of such couples and most of them have joined Circle Daybreak. It used to be a witch circle, but now it is mainly a group of humans and Nightpeople who are against the present system of the Nightworld and want to change it.

So why do you have to know this? Basically, this story involves two characters I created in another fanfiction of mine called "Remember" – Fortuna and Darien. Darien, as said earlier is a lamia while Fortuna's human. 5 years ago, they met and fell in love. They were found out by Darien's family and Fortuna was tortured and her parents killed. Fortuna would have died if not for Darien who then wiped out all her memories that concerned him. Then, 3 years later, they met again. Fortuna eventually recovered her memories, although it was quite some time before Fortuna and Darien got back together. If you want to know more about them, then you can read the story "Remember" – which is still unfinished. 

In this story, you'll also meet another one of my original characters – Ji Zimei. She's a ghost and Fortuna's grand-aunt. Basically, their family has been sworn to protect the balance between good and evil so as to protect freedom of choice for humans. When either side threatens to upset the balance, they will intervene. Each member usually has some kind of power to help them and one of their ancestors is also assigned to help and guide them. In this case, Zimei has been assigned to guide Fortuna. A brief note about Fortuna: She has the ability to serve as a power source to boost other people's powers. She also has extremely strong shields against telepathy – this is to prevent anyone from forcing her into becoming a power source. She is also slightly telepathic as a result and the reason why she can communicate easily with Darien telepathically is because they are soulmates. 

Zimei and Cole have also met before, in 1920s. The background information about the two of them can be found in another of my stories, Destiny, which can be found on my website. But I'll just repeat everything here, so bear with me. Ji Zimei had met Cole in the 1920s in Shanghai. Cole had been there on a mission of the Brotherhood to get rid of an organisation that had succeeded in killing several high-level demons. Ji Zimei was also supposed to get rid of the organisation since if they grew too powerful, the balance would be disrupted. She sought the help of Cole then. Despite themselves, the two became friends. While Cole was working with Zimei, his human and demonic half had actually become more balanced out due to her neutral resonance. After the organisation was destroyed, the two parted ways and had never met again. Cole's demonic half regained domination and Zimei died not too long after.

As for the Halliwells – One of Melinda Warren's ancestors had been part of a small coven that had separated from the Nightworld, refusing all contact with them. By the time Melinda Warren was born, all their knowledge of the Nightworld had been lost. 

That basically wraps up all the necessary information that you have to know at this point. Hope it hasn't been too boring for you!

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            Fortuna was in heaven. 

            She was enjoying a luxurious bubble bath in a tub large enough to hold four people. Her eyes were closed and she raised her arm, just listening to the sound of water dripping back into the tub. She sighed. This was perfect bliss. 

            Of course, perfect bliss had a tendency of coming to a screeching halt. 

            "Expensive tastes I see. Guess you're not as much of a masochist as I thought," a voice said sardonically.

            Fortuna opened one eye and saw a woman standing in front of her. That woman bore a striking resemblance to Fortuna and only looked slightly older. Her long black hair had been pulled back in a thick braid and she wore a simple, blue dress. Her eyes sparkled with amusement.

            Fortuna shut her eyes again and sighed – so much for her bubble bath. It was too good to be true anyway. She had dimly suspected that she was dreaming but she happily neglected that thought. She was enjoying herself far too much. "What are you doing here?" she said in resignation.

            "Aren't you happy to see me?" the woman said in mock hurt. "I just came to visit, that's all."

            Fortuna opened her eyes and just stared at the woman.

            "All right, all right," the woman said. "Something's come up."

            "I guessed as much," Fortuna said, "So what is it now Zimei?"

            "Evil," Zimei replied, sighing. "They're tampering with the Balance. _Again."_

            "So soon?"

             Zimei nodded. "You need to go to San Francisco to the Halliwell Manor. Bring Darien with you. This one's going to be pretty tough. You'll need all the help you can get."

            Fortuna sat up in the tub. "All right, let me get out of this tub and then you can give me the details."

            She got up and amazingly enough, clothes just appeared on her body. "Nice," she complimented Zimei.

            Zimei grinned at her. She waved her hand and their surroundings changed to the garden that was the haven for the spirits of their family. "This has to do with a certain half-demon, half-human, Cole Turner. He has been possessed by the Source…" 

            A few minutes after Fortuna finally managed to get some actual sleep, a voice intruded. "Fortuna! Fortuna, wake up. We have a Circle Daybreak meeting remember?"

            Fortuna stirred and sat up in her bed, yawning. She rubbed her eyes to clear them and saw a man sitting on the bed. She groaned. "Can't I just get a little more sleep, Darien?"

            "Bad night?"

            She nodded. "I had a visitation," she grumbled.

            "Another assignment?" he asked.

            "Yes," she replied, sighing. "I think you'll have to call and tell them that we aren't coming. We have to go to San Francisco."

            "We?"

            "We," she echoed. "Zimei's orders."

            "What's in San Fran?"

            "We have to go pay a visit to the Halliwells – the Charmed Ones of the prophecy, agents of good."

            "Witches of the line that split from the Nightworld witches?" 

            "Yep, that's them." 

            "How are we supposed to 'pay a visit'? Just appear on their doorstep? They'll probably just throw us out."

            Fortuna shook her head. "No, I've been in contact with one of the Halliwells for a long time now – the youngest one, Phoebe. We met in a witch channel on IRC. All I have to do is just drop her a line telling her I'm visiting and ask if I could drop by."

            "Convenient," Darien said. 

            Fortuna scowled. "There wasn't any tampering. I was just checking out the major players of both sides. It saves me the trouble of research later."

            "Get up then," Darien said, standing up and pulling Fortuna. "We've got a lot of stuff to do and you're in a hurry aren't you?"

            "Yes mother," Fortuna said, grinning.


	2. Chapter 2

Duality

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

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Chapter 2

            The doorbell rang. Piper ran out from the kitchen to answer the door. She opened it to find a Chinese couple standing on the doorstep. "Hi," Piper said politely. 

            The girl smiled. "I'm Fortuna Ji, a friend of Phoebe's… I told her that I'll be dropping by?"

            "Oh! Phoebe's internet friend!" she grinned at the two of them. "Come in."

            The two followed behind Piper into the foyer as Phoebe came running down the stairs. "Fortuna?" she asked.

            "Yep," Fortuna replied. "Phoebe, right?"

            "It's so great to see you in person." Phoebe turned to the guy who was standing slightly behind Fortuna. "And who's this?"

            Fortuna pulled Darien forward. "This is Darien Li, my fiancé."

            "You didn't tell me you had a fiancé!" 

            "Well, the subject didn't come up and can you imagine saying out of the blue, 'by the way I'm getting married?'" 

            "So I guess Phoebe probably didn't tell you that she's getting married as well?" Piper said.

            "No!" Fortuna said. "Who is he?"

            "His name's Cole Turner," Phoebe said. "Hold on a sec, I'll get him down here." She turned to the stairs and shouted, "Cole! There's someone here I'll like you to meet!"

            "All right," Piper said, "Much as I'd like to stay, I've got to get down to P3 to meet up with the manager of the band tonight. You guys have fun!" She left the house as Phoebe steered the rest of them into the living room.

            Cole walked down the stairs, trying not to let his irritation show. He had just returned from yet another session with the Seer. By now, Cole's human half was nearly totally submerged by the Source's power. Even so, it still resisted him, particularly when it came to matters concerning Phoebe. He had managed to reassume his role when he saw the couple sitting on the sofa. He was stunned. He knew that woman.

            But it couldn't be her. She was human, last time he checked.  There was no way she could still look so young after a hundred years. Immediately, he could feel the temptation to attack her, get rid of her. But perversely, at that same moment, Cole could feel his human soul asserting itself stronger than ever before. 

              He stared at the woman closely. No, it wasn't who he thought it was. The features were different. Hers were softer, more delicate. She was also taller and of a bigger build. She was probably related to the woman he knew.

            Cole stood beside Phoebe and asked, trying to disguise his surprise and suspicion, "Who did you want me to meet?"

            Phoebe had not noticed the fleeting look of surprise that had flown past Cole's face as her back was facing him. She only turned to him after he came beside her. Phoebe took Cole's hand in hers and said, "Cole, this is Fortuna Ji and her fiancé, Darien. Fortuna's a friend of mine that I met through the Internet. Fortuna, Darien, I think it's pretty obvious who this is."

            _Ji, Cole thought. It was as he suspected. They were related. This was probably not a coincidence – a purely casual visit. She had a motive for being here and Cole had his own suspicions about that. He would have to be on his guard… their family was too unpredictable. As these thoughts were racing through his mind, he smiled, nodded and said politely, "Hi."_

            Darien had been observing Cole with increasing curiosity and caution since he first came into sight. He had suspected that this was the man that Zimei was talking about – the one who was possessed by the Source. As he was shaking the hand which Cole offered, he did a quick scan of Cole's mind.

            Darkness. Deep, heavy, impenetrable, endless and terrifying. With swirls of fierce orange fire. 

            Darien quickly withdrew from Cole's mind – he suspected that if he had not, he would probably have gone insane. The contact lasted for only a second, but Cole had already noticed the intruding presence in his mind. Cole's face darkened as he tried to keep his temper in check and prevent himself from incinerating Darien right on the spot.

            Phoebe saw Cole's face darken and she asked him with concern, "Are you all right? Is there something bothering you?"

            "No," Cole lied quickly, "I just haven't been able to get enough sleep."

_He's the one, Darien murmured telepathically to Fortuna as Phoebe and Cole were talking._

_You scanned his mind, Fortuna said flatly._

_I had to make sure, Darien said defensively._

            _You do know that the contact could have killed you, she replied tartly. _

            Phoebe starred at the two of them. Fortuna and Darien had been staring at each other, as if in silent conversation. Cole guessed that they probably were. Fortuna would probably have some sort of magical ability since she was a Ji, but that Darien was a wild card, an unknown.

            An uncomfortable silence developed. "So…" Phoebe asked, trying to cut through the tension that was growing increasingly stifling, "how long will you guys be here for?"

            "Oh, about two weeks or so," Darien said casually, "Depends on whether we'll be able to finish what we came here to do."

            "I think you'll be able to finish it soon," Cole said smoothly. Phoebe looked at him, confused, "What exactly is going on?"

            _You'll have to knock her out or get her out of here, Fortuna said silently to Darien. __We have __to talk to Cole and I don't think she's ready to hear this just yet. _

            _Give me your hand, Darien said, __I'll need a power boost. He shut his eyes right then and sent a quick blow into Phoebe's mind. She fell to the ground, unconscious._

            "Well," Cole said slowly, "that saves me the trouble of trying to convince her to leave us alone. It'll be… inconvenient to have her around while I try to kill you." Without waiting for them to say anything, he flung a fire ball at Fortuna.

            Fortuna was pushed out of the way by Darien. If not for his preternatural senses and reflexes as a vampire, Fortuna probably would not have been able to escape from the fireball. Then Darien flung himself onto Cole, trying to hold him down. Cole vanished from beneath him, in a flame which scorched Darien. 

            Cole reappeared behind Fortuna and was about to launch another fireball when Zimei appeared, her form translucent in the afternoon sun. She pulled Cole to the ground and held him down. "Now!" she shouted at Fortuna. Cole somehow could not flame out from beneath the ghost and could only struggle to get free.

            Fortuna rushed over, taking out a charm from her pocket. This she quickly placed around Cole's neck.

            Instantly, Cole felt a tearing pain inside of him and something pulling at him. It felt as if something was trying to force part of him away. It was not unlike the feeling when Belthazor was vanquished within him. He felt the evil in him fade and loosen its hold as his human soul gained in strength and finally gained control of the driver's seat.

            "What did you do?" Cole asked Fortuna.

            It was Zimei who answered the question instead. "This is a charm that has been infused with as much power that all of the Ji family – dead and alive – can provide. It's meant to hold down the evil of the Source within you."

            "Thank you," Cole said gratefully.

            "Don't thank me yet," she warned, "it's not permanent. It'll only last a month at most and with each passing day, the charm will get weaker. The Source within you will therefore become stronger. The Source's strength aside, he has already managed to entwine his powers with your soul closely enough that the bond is too strong for our powers to break."

            "So you're just delaying the inevitable?" Cole said bleakly.

            Fortuna shook her head. "Your resonances are not so closely interlinked that it is impossible to break, it's simply that it'll require more power than what we have. That's why we need more time."

            Cole sighed. He then remembered just who was standing beside him. "I guess Fortuna's related to you isn't she, Zimei?"

            Zimei nodded. "My grand-niece."

            "So you're still wandering around as a ghost?" he said, a small smile appearing on his face.

            "What does it look like?" Zimei said waspishly. "Do I look like I'm real?"

            Cole laughed. "And what are you exactly?" he asked, turning to Darien. "You could have gotten yourself killed with that mental probe."

            "That's what I told him," Fortuna said before Darien could reply.

            Darien glared at Fortuna, "You didn't say anything _before. That's when it mattered." Then he turned to Cole and said, "I'm a vampire. You've probably heard of the Nightworld?"_

            Cole nodded. "I should have guessed," he said ruefully. "I've heard of the Nightworld although I've never had any personal experience with them." Then he asked, "Why are you guys intervening? Compassion? A belief in true love and redemption?"

            Zimei snorted. Darien began to laugh. Fortuna glared at the two of them. "Very nice idea actually, but I'm afraid we aren't as noble as that. We're basically intervening because – "

            "– you aren't meant to be evil. You're supposed to eventually work for us," Zimei interrupted. 

            "And you can tell Resident Evil that Zimei isn't exactly too thrilled about him messing around with the Balance like that," Darien said, grinning.

            "Thank you, Darien, for that unneeded remark," Zimei said tartly.

            Cole shook his head. "I always wondered how you guys get anything done with all that bantering you do. The Halliwell sisters too…"

            Zimei's expression became serious. "You have to tell them the truth, Cole."

            "I know," Cole said sighing. "So that they know what to do if The Source gains control again."

            Fortuna shook her head. "It's not just that. They have the right to know, especially Phoebe. You're a part of their lives and their family."

            "Don't be too hard on him," Darien said. "He doesn't have a lot of control over the evil within him."

            "Not much of an excuse though," Cole said. "I think I'll tell Phoebe first, if you would wake her up…" the last was directed to Darien.

            "No problem," Darien said, as he took Fortuna's hand once more and boosted his own telepathic powers. As he did so, Cole took a deep breath and readied himself for what was to come.

~* To be continued *~


	3. Chapter 3

Duality

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

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Chapter 3

            In the darkness that surrounded her, Phoebe was dimly aware of what seemed like a hand reaching out for her, pulling her back to reality. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open. As her vision became clearer, she saw three concerned faces staring down at her. She blinked, trying to clear her mind. 

            "Are you okay?" Cole said in concern, kneeling down to help Phoebe sit up.

            "Yeah…" she said distractedly, shaking her head slightly. "What just happened?" she asked in confusion.

            Darien and Fortuna stared at Cole while Cole stared back at them, hesitating.

            "Well? _What?" Phoebe demanded._

            "Oh just _tell her already," a voice said irritably from behind Fortuna. _

            Phoebe looked behind Fortuna's shoulder and saw a slightly translucent figure hovering behind her. She immediately sprang to her feet, swaying with the dizziness that the sudden movement caused. "All right, what the _hell is going on here? What's a __ghost doing here? __How did I end up conscious? I want some answers and I __damn well am going to get them right __now!" she shouted._

            Cole sighed. "Do you remember after we vanquished the Source you asked the Seer what happened to his powers?"

            Phoebe nodded.

            "Well…" Cole hesitated. "His powers actually stayed with me."

            "What – You mean – " Phoebe stared at Cole stunned. "No," she said, shaking her head furiously.

            "Yes," Cole said, "I was – am – supposed to be the next Source."

            Phoebe swayed backwards. Cole reached out to try and support her. She pushed him away, staring at him in fear and shock as the pieces snapped into place in her mind. Cole's odd behavior the past few days, his mysterious disappearances, his flashes of anger, her dreams and her future self's attitude towards him…

            God, how could she have been so _blind?_

            "Why didn't you tell me earlier? Why did you hide it from me?" she asked angrily. "You had so many chances to tell me. I thought we agreed that we wouldn't hide anything from each other again." Phoebe ran her fingers through her hair in frustration as she paced about the room.

            "He didn't exactly have a choice," Zimei interrupted gently. "By the time he realised what was happening, the Source already had too strong a hold on him."

            "So what's different now? Wouldn't the Source's hold be even stronger by now?"

            Fortuna walked over to Cole and lifted the charm on his neck. Phoebe saw a simple round piece of jade with a hole in the middle and light and dark green swirls. She blinked. If you stared at it hard enough, the swirls seemed to move. Fortuna then said, "A few minutes ago, while you were unconscious, we put this charm on Cole. It contains all the power that my family can provide and should keep Cole's human side in control for a month at best."

            Phoebe sat down heavily on the couch. "All right, so let me get this straight. My fiancé is about to become the epitome of absolute evil and I'm sitting here in my living room with a ghost and a couple of people that I'm not really sure that I really know right now. Isn't this turning out to be a wonderful day? It just _can't get any better can it?"_

            She sighed and collected herself. "Ok, now 'fess up. Who are you, really?" she indicated Fortuna, Darien and Zimei.

            Fortuna sighed and began to tell the story of herself, Darien, the Nightworld and everyone else. She privately hoped that she did not have to repeat it. If she had to do it again, she was going to push the job to someone else. Darien might be a good choice…

            "God, this is too much to take at once," Phoebe said, shaking her head. Then she looked at Cole bleakly. "So what do we have to do to get rid of the Source in you? Would the power-stripping potion work?"

            Cole shook his head. "I don't think so. The Source filled up the part of me that used to be Belthazor, which already gives him something to work with. That, plus the power he has…" he walked over to Phoebe and cupped her cheek. "The bond's very strong," he said softly.

            "What can we do then?" she asked, looking at him in despair. "I can't _lose you. Not now." _

            Cole held her tightly in his arms. "I know," he said, kissing her hair. "But promise me this. If I am beyond all hope, you will kill me before the Source takes over." 

            Phoebe's eyes filled with pain and sorrow as she nodded. "I love you," she said softly.

            "I love you too," he said.

            "I hate to interrupt you guys," Darien said, as Phoebe and Cole turned sharply to him, who had almost forgot about the presence of the other three people in the room. "But your situation isn't _that hopeless yet. Not exactly shining bright perhaps, but definitely not dire gloom."_

            "Somebody should strangle you when you try speaking in metaphors," Fortuna muttered, trying to cover up the tears that nearly came to her eyes at the scene in front of her. 

            Darien took Fortuna's hand in his and smiled at her in understanding. They will do whatever they could to help Cole. It was the very least that they could do.

            "All right," Zimei interrupted. "I know that this is hard for you to take all at once, Phoebe, but I'm afraid that we don't exactly have a lot of time. Do you think you could get your sisters back here? They need to know all these things too."

            Darien's face turned thoughtful. "I think we should get in touch with the branch of Circle Daybreak here."

            "Circle Daybreak?"

            "It's an organisation that basically wants to promote understanding between humans and the Nightworld. It started out as a witch circle actually." Fortuna said, looking at Darien's face quizzically. "But why do you want to contact them for?"

            "Well," Darien said slowly, "I figure we'll need all the magical assistance that we need. There are quite a few witches here so…"

            " – we'll have more resources at hand," Phoebe completed. "Plus I might get a chance to pick up some new spells."

            "Ok," Cole said. "So we'll meet back here in two hours?"

"So…" Piper said as Paige, Leo, Phoebe and Cole settled down in the living room. "What's this about?"

            "Do you want to tell them, or should I?" Phoebe asked.

            "It's better if I told them," he replied.

            "Tell? Tell us what?" Paige asked. "You've already told us the big news."

            "I think this is _much bigger than Phoebe and I getting married," Cole said sighing, before telling them the story._

            Immediately there was a chorus of "What?", "Why didn't you tell us?", "I just knew there was something wrong?" and "What are we going to do?"

            Just then, the doorbell rang. "I'll get that," Cole said, grateful for a brief distraction. "It's probably Darien and Fortuna."

            The two of them followed Cole into the living room and there was yet another round of introductions.

            _I'm really getting tired at repeating all this, Darien said privately to Fortuna, who just grinned at him. _

            "I'm going to have to report up there with all this," Leo said, glancing upwards.

            "Oh no, you don't," a voice said. Zimei's figure appeared in the middle of the living room.

            "I have to."

            "You can't."

            "Why can't he report to the Elders?" Piper asked.

            "Because you can forget about saving Cole if they know about this," she said, annoyed. "I've just checked with the side of good to see if we can count on them for their support. But _no, they'll rather kill him instead. Less risky, they said."_

            "What!" Phoebe exclaimed, standing up.

            "Calm down Phebes," Piper said. "I don't believe that they'll say that."

            "Believe it," Zimei said bleakly. "Separating the Source from Cole is a much riskier and more difficult process than just vanquishing him. Besides, good doesn't want to take the chance that something like this might happen again."

            At that moment, the Seer shimmered into the living room.

            "Damn these sudden appearing figures," Paige muttered.

            "You," Fortuna said, the hostility obvious in her voice. "Why, I couldn't have guessed," she said sarcastically.

            "It's been a while," the Seer acknowledged. "I notice that your family is still running aimlessly all over the place."

            "It's still better than being a traitor like you."

            "I was merely being realistic," the Seer said. "You'll see. You can't keep the Balance for long. You wouldn't be able to save him from the Source."

            "Oh really?" Fortuna said, lifting an eyebrow. 

            "Certainly," the Seer said, "but just in case…" she released an energy ball at Fortuna, so fast that nobody noticed until it was too late. The ball hit Fortuna, who slumped onto the ground.

            "No!" Darien shouted as he ran to Fortuna. He quickly drew out the darts that he kept in his coat and tossed them at the Seer, who had vanished before the darts could reach her. 

~* To be continued *~


	4. Chapter 4

Duality

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Author's Note: Thanks for all your wonderful comments! I'm glad you liked it.

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Chapter Four

            "Fortuna. Fortuna, sweetheart," Darien said as he cradled her head in his arms and brushed her hair away from her face. Leo rushed over to her as well and held her hands. They were immediately surrounded by a warm golden glow of healing light.

            "What was _that all about?" Piper said angrily. _

            "Wait…" Paige said, "Isn't she the one who helped us with the Hollow?"

            Phoebe nodded. Paige continued, "Then why did she just appear like that? Why did she try to kill Fortuna and not anyone else?"

            They looked at Zimei to see if she had any answers. Zimei wasn't paying any attention. Her eyes flared with golden sparks which seem to enshroud her person as well. "_Damn that bloody Seer. I'm going to find her, dig out her insides with a blunt knife, turn her inside out, hang her over a boiling fire…"_

            "Ok…" Phoebe said, staring at Zimei. "That was a little, urm, graphic. Do you think you could curb your violent tendencies for a while?"

            Zimei looked at Phoebe sheepishly. "Sorry about that, I got a little carried away. It's about time I did something about that Seer…"

            "Forget about vengeance or whatever for now and _focus," Piper said, "You'll have time for your morbid fantasies later." She turned to Leo. "Is she all right? You don't usually take this long…"_

            Leo looked up at her, his face sombre. "I healed her physically but something's wrong. She's still unconscious."

            "Darien?" Zimei said. He nodded at her and placed his hands on either side of Fortuna's head, closing his eyes. 

            "What's he doing?" Paige asked curiously.

            "He's probing her mind," Zimei explained.

            "But I thought you said that Fortuna is shielded from telepathy."

            Zimei glanced at the couple. "They're soulmates. The bond between them transcends these barriers."

            "Soulmates?"

            "The one person that you're meant to be with – you ought to be familiar with that, considering you're surrounded by them," she indicated Piper and Phoebe. "Soulmates can get a general sense of what the other is thinking or feeling. In certain situations, you can even communicate telepathically. Basically, there's a bond between soulmates that can overcome quite a few limitations."

            "Right," Paige said. "Let's go back to my other question, Oracle."

            Zimei gave a mock glare at Paige. "Ask and ye shall receive, oh ignorant one."

            "So why did the Seer just go after Fortuna and not the rest of us? For that matter, why go after us in the first place? She helped us the last time."

            "That was because she didn't have a choice then," Piper reminded. "It was a little thing known as common interest. She's still evil."

            Zimei nodded. "She went after Fortuna because she is the last surviving member of the Ji family. And the Seer hates us. She knows that she can't take on all of us, so she settled for one." Her face darkened. "And she's going to pay."

            At that time, Darien's eyes opened, showing an expression of fear and worry. "There was a spell in that energy ball," he said quietly. "Fortuna's trapped in her memories. And definitely not the pleasant ones."

            "Not the –  " Zimei started. Darien nodded. She sighed and explained. "Once, as a form of torture, Fortuna's parents were killed in front of her. Electrocuted in fact."

            Four pairs of incredulous eyes stared back at her. "That's what you get when you go against the Night World," she said bleakly.

            "Come on," Piper said sympathetically. "I'll bring you to one of the rooms upstairs. You can let her rest there."

            "Thanks," Darien said as he gently lifted Fortuna in his arms and followed Piper.

            Cole had been silent for most of the conversation. When the Seer first appeared, he had wanted to destroy her. He hated her for causing the Source to be inside of him, for thwarting his hopes of a happy life with Phoebe, for causing him to be evil again. He wanted revenge and he had the ability to carry it out. It was only when he felt the evil grow within him that he clamped down that desire.

            _So I guess the charm really isn't permanent, he thought._

            Along with this came a feeling of guilt. He should have been stronger against the Source, he should have told Phoebe much earlier, and perhaps something could have been done then… He pushed aside the guilt and focused on what was happening.

            Phoebe glanced at Cole in worry. He hadn't said a word since the Seer had attacked and she was worried about him. She took his hand in hers, trying to offer whatever little comfort she could. He glanced at her and smiled, trying to reassure.

            "So why does the Seer hate your family so much?"

            "She used to work for my family and the Balance," Zimei sighed. "She was orphaned, with the gift of prescience that she couldn't control. One of my ancestors found her and brought her up. He came to love her like a daughter. Then, for some strange reason, she suddenly became evil. For the power that evil promised her, I think. She killed a lot of my family then," she said darkly. "Our family used to be much bigger until she came along."

            "Hm…" Cole said, looking thoughtful. "There's a story about the Seer that only a few of us know about. It is said that she used to be human once until she allowed herself to be bonded to a demon's spirit. The demon was one named Ka'ak, one of the highest dark priestesses who had been vanquished. Part of her spirit and power lingered however, and she offered the Seer access to all the dark power that used to be at Ka'ak's command if she would allow herself to be tied to her spirit. Ka'ak thought that that way, she'll eventually gain control over the Seer's body and live again, but the Seer somehow managed to make sure that Ka'ak remained subordinate to her."

            "But she still became evil," Zimei said, "I guess this explains it. But I'm still going to kill her when I see her…" her face darkened.

            Piper came down the stairs. "How is she?" Leo asked, going to her.

            Piper sighed. "Well, Darien's with her, he said he was going to try something and asked me to see if I could find any spells to counter this in case it fails."

            "What's he going to try?" Leo asked.

            "He said something about entering her mind and trying to break the cycle…" Piper said vaguely.

            "So all we can do is wait?" Paige said.

            Piper nodded. "Paige, could you run out and get some supplies? Phoebe, you and me will look in the Book and see if we can find anything for Fortuna or Cole. Leo, could you watch over Darien and Fortuna just in case?"

            "Call me if you need me," he said, as he kissed her gently on the lips before he went up the stairs.

            "You go on first, there's something I need to do," Phoebe said, glancing at Cole. They needed to talk. 

            "I'll go do some of my own research as well," Zimei said, as she disappeared.

            Paige grabbed her keys and left the house as Piper went up to the attic, leaving Cole and Phoebe in the living room.

            "What's wrong?" she asked Cole when they were left alone. She saw the hesitation on his face and said, "You can tell me."

            He sighed and said, "I'm sorry."

            "Why?" she said, baffled.

            "For all of this, for not being strong enough to resist the Source."

            Phoebe shook her head and raised her hand to caress Cole's face. "It's not your fault. All this was beyond your control. Nobody blames you for anything. Except that you could have told us sooner…"

            "I know I should have," he said.

            "Hey, you were under the Source's influence," Phoebe said, "cut yourself some slack."

            He smiled at her and pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her hair. Phoebe leaned into him, enjoying the sense of peace and love, forgetting for a while all their troubles.

            "You know," Phoebe said thoughtfully, "we should explore the soulmate thing Zimei was talking about."

            "Oh?"

            "Yeah, being able to read each other's minds might be _very useful."_

            "And how are we supposed to do that?"

            "Well, we could start by exploring just _how close we can get to each other," she said, her tone layered with meaning._

            Cole laughed. "We could start right now," he said as he bent down to kiss her.

            "Phoebe!" Piper shouted, "Are you done yet?"

            "Damn," Phoebe swore as she pulled away. Her expression turned serious. "Don't worry, we'll be able to find a way," she said, trying to sound optimistic.

            Cole managed to summon up a smile. "Whatever happens we'll still have all the good times that we had together."

            Phoebe tried to hold back the tears in her eyes and grinned, "We'll continue exploring later," she said, before going up the stairs.

            Darien held Fortuna's hand tightly in his against his cheek. He closed his eyes and entered her mind.

            He could hardly get a sense of her. Her mind was dark, bleak and empty. Her consciousness had been submerged, lost in a maze of thorny memories. Darien knew that if he did not break through the maze, she could either go insane or die.

            _Fortuna, he called out into her mind, __come back, please. You need to remember where you are. What you're seeing are just memories, they're all in the past. You have __to wake up, love. I can't lose you. I still need you. Everybody here still needs you. Please Fortuna…_

            Darien hoped that this would help him draw her consciousness out of the trap the spell had bound her into. Even as he did this, he channelled whatever telepathic power he had into trying to tear away the thorns. He hoped that whatever he was doing would work. It had to. He wouldn't lose her again. 

~* To be continued *~


	5. Chapter 5

Duality

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, especially to Cindy. Your comments have given me quite a few ideas – thanks!

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Chapter Five

            "There is absolutely _nothing of use here!" Phoebe said, slamming the Book of Shadows shut in frustration. _

            "Easy on the book Phebes," Piper said, taking the book away from her.

            Phoebe sighed as she sat down on the small step. "It's just so frustrating. Just when everything seems to be going well, something just _has to happen to screw it up. The story of my life, basically."_

 "The story of all our lives," Piper said wryly as she sat down beside her. "We'll find a way to help Cole, Phoebe," she said, serious. Cole had left them in the attic to check on Fortuna and Darien and to relieve Leo.

"Can we?" she said bleakly. "It's the Source we're talking about here. And if even such a powerful charm as the one Fortuna gave us can only keep him from taking over for a month, how much can we do?"

"I don't know," Piper confessed, "but we have to try."

"I'm not saying that we shouldn't," Phoebe said, "but knowing that doesn't make it any easier."

"Honey, no one said it would," Piper said gently. "Have you talked with Cole yet?"

"Sort of. He's blaming himself for everything. I'm trying to stay as positive as I can for him."

"Well, if you need anyone to talk to, I'm here," Piper said. 

"And so am I," Paige said, entering the attic. She sat on the floor in front of Phoebe. "I know that I wasn't that accepting of Cole in the beginning 'cause of that demon thing, but I don't want to lose him either. I mean sure, he can be irritating and everything, but he's saved our lives and he loves you."

"And he's like family now," Piper finished.

"Thanks," Phoebe said, smiling gratefully.

"Now, shall we look at the spell you created to get rid of Cole's demonic half?"

"Piper, we've looked at it twice already and we found nothing," Phoebe said.

"Well, Paige's here now, maybe we can get a new perspective."

Pain. Anger. Desperation. Frustration. Sadness.

That was all Fortuna felt as she relieved every moment of torture she had faced when she had been captured by Darien's family. Dimly, she knew something was wrong, but she had no idea what. She felt captured, suffocated, trapped. 

_Fortuna? _

            Fortuna blinked, for a moment losing focus of what the scene in front of her. Someone was calling her…

            Darien?

            It couldn't be.

            _Fortuna, the voice said, sounding stronger and more forceful._

            Darien, she called out in her mind. However impossible it seemed, it had to be him.

            Then, blindingly bright in her mind, she saw a rope in front of her. The scene around her vanished, but she was surrounded by tall and large thorns that seemed to be closing in on her, threatening to consume her.

            _Hold on, Darien said urgently._

            Fortuna held on to the rope and felt herself being pulled out of the hell that she was in. All she saw was a swirl of colour and images that went by too fast for her to make any sense out of them.

            Cole walked into the room quietly. Leo was sitting on the chair near the door. He saw Darien, sitting by the bed, eyes shut, with Fortuna's hand held tightly in his. "How is she?" he asked Leo softly.

            Leo turned towards Cole and shook his head. "No improvement, Darien has been sitting there like that for the past hour."

"The girls sent me down here to relieve you."

"Thanks," he said, "I'll stick around here for a little first." He paused before continuing, "So how are you holding up?"

            "As well as I can, under the circumstances."

            "I'm not going to tell the Elders anything for now," Leo said. "Zimei had a point. They _will rather see you dead. And I know all too clearly what it's like to lose someone you love."_

            "Thanks," Cole said. "I just hope that when the time comes, she'll be able to vanquish me."

            "She will," Leo said, "however much it hurts, she will."

            Cole stared at the bed in silence. He knew that he was a time-bomb just waiting to go off. Granted, Zimei had said that the charm should last for at least a month, but he couldn't be sure. He was frustrated and angry. He was happy for the first time in more than a hundred years and evil had to screw everything up.

            Again.

            Then, he saw a frown appear on Darien's face and saw him grip Fortuna's hand tighter. Suddenly his eyes sprang open.

            "Are you ok?" Cole asked Darien.

            Darien did not seem to hear him. He sat on the side of the bed and bent over Fortuna, caressing her forehead, waiting for a reaction.

            Slowly, Fortuna's eyes fluttered open. A look of immense relief appeared on Darien's face. 

            "I'm getting damned tired of this happening," she muttered as she tried to sit up. Darien rushed to help and propped a pillow behind her back. She was sick of being made unconscious and having to relive the same memory over and over again. Once was enough, three times was just _too much. _

            "So am I," Darien said. Then he hit Fortuna lightly, "Don't you dare scare me like that again."

            "Ouch!" Fortuna shouted. "You say it like it's my fault," she said sourly. "You didn't have to hit me, my head hurts enough as it is."

            "Glad to see you back in the world of the living," Leo said as he walked over to stand by the bed, with Cole following behind him.

            "So am I," Fortuna said, smiling. 

            "What did you do to get her back?" Cole asked curiously.

            "Telepathy," Darien said, yawning slightly, tired by the mental exertion, "and the soulmate bond. I had to wander around her rather vacant mind for a while before finding anything though."

            Fortuna glared at him. "Not any more vacant than yours is."

            Leo grinned. "Ok, I'm going to go upstairs to the attic and check on the girls. You get some rest, Fortuna."

            "I will if someone would stop baiting me," she said, still glaring at Darien.

            He grinned at her. "I'm just happy you're back. I needed to make sure that it's the real you." His face turned serious and soft. "Get some sleep, I'll see you later."

            Fortuna nodded as she lay back down on the bed. As her eyes shut, Darien kissed her on the forehead. "Let's go," he said to the Cole, as the two of them left the room and walked towards the kitchen.

            "I should get something to eat but I left the blood bags in the hotel…" Darien thought out loud. Then he realised that Cole was with him and grinned sheepishly, "Sorry about that. People tend to get a little uncomfortable by my dietary habits."

            "Don't worry, I'm not your normal human," Cole said, "I've met demons with weirder dietary habits."

            "I guess you would've," Darien said. "It must have been difficult adjusting to being human."

            Cole nodded. "I'm used to being able to protect myself. Quite well actually. The feeling of vulnerability wasn't that great. Plus, Belthazor had been a part of me all my life and even though I didn't miss him, I still felt a little lost. It was rather strange actually. I didn't feel particularly different – just that I didn't have the voice of Belthazor tempting me towards evil in my head anymore. I didn't feel like I had become good," he laughed, "it sounds rather cheesy actually."

             "Hey, you just became human. Nobody made you the servant and follower of goodness and light." He grinned. "Zimei's actually a little worried about Fortuna – thinks she's becoming too good. She's worried that it might compromise her neutrality."

            "No danger of that happening in their family," Cole said. "They might tend towards good or evil, but they never let anything affect their neutrality. Even if it means that they remain isolated from both sides."

            "The Ji family are ostracised by both good and evil – it's a rather lonely and difficult job actually. Yet, ultimately, they continue doing what they do. The sense of duty and responsibility is extremely strong."

            Cole nodded. "So how did you meet Fortuna?"

            "By chance actually," he said, smiling at the memory. "I was in China running some errands for my father. Fortuna was there visiting her cousins and she was staying in the house next to mine." His expression turned thoughtful. "Despite the fact that we're soulmates, our relationship had its own problems. She used to be uncomfortable when I fed in front of her. We also used to have a few arguments about my feeding habits. I think its ok for me to feed off a human so long as consent is given. She doesn't think so. Fortuna thinks that if I feed on a human, it's the beginning of a slippery slope and I'll start feeding and end up killing humans. Rather extreme in my opinion." He laughed, "and it doesn't help that my opinion of humans can still be rather condescending at times. I've been brought up to think that humans are vermin, which still rears its ugly head every now and then."

            "I know a little about what you mean," Cole said. "Once, not long after I became human, I went out to buy a gun. When I told Phoebe about it, she and her sisters demanded that I return it and tried to explain to me why it was wrong. Even now, I still don't quite understand it. To me, it was just for self-protection, not that different from me having my demonic powers."

            Darien laughed. "I guess there are still parts of our bad guy past that we can't shake off. Maybe with time…"

            "That's _if we have time," Cole said, sighing._

            "We'll do all we can to make sure of that," Darien said, determined. Then he glanced up at the clock. "I think I should go back to the hotel to pick up some stuff for Fortuna, I'd rather she stays put tonight, if it's ok with you guys?"

            "There shouldn't be a problem," Cole said. "Do you want me to go with you?"

            "Sure, I wouldn't mind the conversation."


	6. Chapter 6

Duality

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Thanks again for all the great feedback. This part ends a little abruptly and hopefully you guys can still put up with my long meandering towards a conclusion. :-)

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Chapter Six

As Darien drove out of his parking space, he said, "You seem to be dealing with this whole situation rather well."

"Well?"

"Yeah, you're calm, accepting of the situation. You don't spend a lot of time brooding about why this happened but instead try to find a way to deal with it. Not many people can do that," Darien replied.

"It's pretty ironic actually," Cole said, thinking over what Darien said, "I think it's 'cause of who I used to be. As a demon, if I wanted to stay on top, I had to have a streak of ruthlessness. I learnt that getting emotional just got in the way of things. Like you said, some things are hard to shake off."

Before Darien could reply, his mobile phone rang. "Darien Li," he said, as he answered it. He talked to the other person for a few minutes before he said, "Thanks Rhea, I wouldn't have thought about that. I'll get there as soon as I can. Bye."

"What was that about?" Cole asked curiously.

"Oh, it was just a witch who I went to see earlier to see if the witches here could help. She said that she would look into it and I could call her if we needed anything. Anyway, she called me to tell me that she had some wards and charms that might be useful and asked me to go pick them up. So if it's ok with you we can go to the hotel first before dropping by her place."

"Sounds fine to me," Cole said.

Darien suddenly laughed. "If Fortuna were here she would have started yelling at me for not using a hands-free thing on the phone."

"What's the point?" Cole said, grinning, "It's not like a car crash will kill you. Or me for that matter."

"That's what I told her," Darien said, "before she loudly reminded me that a certain someone wasn't lucky enough to be immortal like a certain 'blood sucking vampire freak', as she rather quaintly put it."

"How do the two of you put up with each other?" Cole asked, shaking his head.

"Very noisily," Darien replied, "but Fortuna once told me that it was a lot more fun that way." He laughed before continuing, "One minute, she'll be flinging insults at you, the next she'll go all sentimental on you."

"My relationship with Phoebe sounds a lot less tempestuous," Cole said, grinning. "Except that we fell in love when I was supposed to kill her and I proposed to her immediately after we vanquished a demon."

"Ah love," Darien said in mock sententiousness, "what a sweet and mysterious thing."

After picking up the things Darien needed from the hotel, they drove to a house not that far off from there. 

"Is this it?" Cole asked. The house looked perfectly normal, but when he looked closely, he noticed that the front gate was decorated with black dahlias.

"Yep," Darien said as he walked up to the door with Cole following behind.

A woman who seemed to be in her twenties answered the door. She had brown wavy hair that cascaded behind her shoulders and striking violet eyes. "Hey Rhea," Darien greeted.

"Hi Darien," Rhea said, looking at Cole quizzically.

"Oh, this is Cole Turner," Darien said, indicating Cole with a wave of his hand. "Cole, this is Rhea Harman. So what do you have?"

"Come in," she said, "everything's out back."

She brought them to what seemed to be a work room, filled with all sorts of herbs, books, candles and all sorts of such paraphernalia. She opened her drawer and took out four silver bracelets, each intricately carved. All of them looked ancient.

"I was searching through some old boxes which Thea – my cousin – sent to me a while back. I've been meaning to sort through them but I just hadn't had the time. Anyway, I wanted to see if I had anything that I have that could help you and I found these."

"What are they?" Cole asked.

"Well, these bracelets have protective spells in them. If anyone nearby has ill intentions towards the bearer, it would warn them about it. It only works if the bearer has a certain degree of power though, since the bracelets draw on your own personal power. I think that the Halliwell sisters should have enough though."

"Thanks," Darien said, "but who is the fourth one for?"

"Fortuna, you dope," Rhea said, "you've been hanging around too much with those Redferns – it's made you dense."

            Darien sighed. "Sorry my brain's functioning a little slowly, it's been a long day."

            "No snappy come-backs from you," Rhea said, raising an eyebrow, "it _has been a long day for you."_

            Darien smiled, "Anyway, thanks. I'd call you if there's anything else."

            "Sure," Rhea said, "say hello to Fortuna for me."

            "Thanks," Cole said as they left the house.

            "For what?" Darien said in surprise.

            "For doing so much to help me with the Source," Cole said.

            Darien grinned. "Nothing to say thanks for. Like Fortuna said, our motives aren't exactly altruistic. She's got a job to do and it involves stopping you from becoming the Source, I'm just here for the ride."

            "Actually, maybe if we just added more power to the spell, we could use the same one," Paige said.

            Phoebe shook her head. "I thought about that. But the spell was meant for Belthazor. It might not work on the Source."

            "All right, explain to me how this spell worked again?" Piper asked. The three of them were still in the attic. Leo had been called back by the Elders. He had been a little nervous and hoped that they hadn't found out about Cole.

            "Well, what it did was break Cole and Belthazor apart and vanquish Belthazor," Phoebe said. 

            "Cool spell," Paige complimented Phoebe.

            Piper stared at it for what was probably the hundredth time. "Maybe if we tailored it for the Source…"

            "Possible," Phoebe said, "but we'll still need a lot of energy for that, energy that we might not have."

            "How about just separating the two of them?" Paige suggested.

            "Then what do we do when the Source is out of Cole?" Piper said. "Will we be able to vanquish him before he kills all of us?"

            "It sounds workable," a voice said from the doorway.

            All three of them turned to see Fortuna. Her face was still slightly pale but she had a small smile on her face. 

            "Shouldn't you be resting?" Phoebe asked in concern.

            "Couldn't sleep," Fortuna said, "Plus I feel much better now, so I came up to see if there was anything I could do."

            "Well, we're just looking at the spell which Phoebe used to turn Cole human to see if we could find anything there," Piper said.

            "Let me take a look at that spell," Fortuna said. Paige passed it to Fortuna. She looked at it for a while, her forehead furrowed in concentration. "Hm," she murmured, "if you have enough power at hand, you just might be able to separate the two then vanquish the Source."

            "That's the problem," Phoebe said, "where do we get the power?"

"Well, there's the power of the entire Halliwell line, my family, and whatever power the witch circle here can provide. Besides, I'll be able to amplify the power a bit."

            "Ok, given that, we still have to change it to suit the Source," Piper said. 

            "Give me some time to look at it," Phoebe said, "Cole and I came up with the spell to vanquish the Source, we should be able to change this to suit him. By the way, where's Cole?" 

            "He left a note saying that he went with Darien to pick up some stuff at our hotel," Fortuna said. 

            Just then, they heard a crash and a shout. "Cole!" Phoebe shouted as she dashed out of the attic, with the rest of them following behind her.

            After Cole and Darien had returned to the manor, Darien had said, "I'm going to go and check on Fortuna."

            Cole had nodded and said, "I'll go check on the girls."

            He was on the way to the attic when he seemed to hear a shout and a sound of struggling come from Phoebe's room. He ran there and saw Phoebe on the ground with a demon with a knife hovering above her. The demon was about to kill her.

            Cole panicked. All he could think right then was that he had to save Phoebe. He couldn't let her die. Without thinking, he released a fireball. Immediately he felt the Source breaking free from his restrictions and felt the triumph of the evil within him. Cole began to feel as if he was losing control of his own body. Dimly, he saw Phoebe vanish in front of him and become the Seer.

            "I said that they wouldn't be able to save you from the Source," she said triumphantly, a smirk on her face.

            _No, Cole said in his mind as he struggled to stay in control, __I wouldn't let you win. The inner fight in his mind caused him to fall unconscious._

            Phoebe, Piper, Paige and Fortuna rushed into the room just in time to see the Seer bending over Cole. Piper waved her hand at the Seer to try and blow her up. The Seer shimmered before the blow could have any effect on her. At that point Darien, who had also heard the noise, had rushed to the room as well.

            Phoebe ran over to Cole. She cradled his head in her arms. "Cole, wake up, please Cole." Then she turned to Fortuna. "What the _hell just happened!" _

Fortuna held Cole's wrist for a while, as if checking something. Then she sighed. "The charm's close to falling apart."

"I thought you said it would last a month!" Phoebe shouted. 

"Leo!" Piper called. "Leo, get down here!" 

Leo orbed into the room within seconds. He looked at the scene of chaos in shock. "What just happened?"

"That's what I want to know," Phoebe said, glaring at Fortuna.

"The Seer provoked Cole into using the Source's powers. In effect, he let down the barrier that the charm I gave him provided and the Source is trying to take over," she replied.

"So fix it," Phoebe said.

"I would if I could," Fortuna snapped. She knew that Phoebe was just anxious and worried about Cole and that she would probably have reacted the same way if their roles were reversed. But that didn't mean that she couldn't get irritated.

_Cool down, love, Darien said to her mentally. Fortuna sighed. Thank God she had Darien with her; he steadied her, calmed her down and reminded her that he was there to support her whenever she needed it. She took a deep breath. Then the idea struck her._

"There might be a way," she said softly. "But you'll have to get into Cole's mind." 

*~To Be Continued~* 


	7. Chapter 7

Duality

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Author's Notes: This is a rather short chapter, but it was the best place to end it. Basically this just sets the stage for the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

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Chapter Seven

            "And _how am I supposed to do that?" _

            "Soulmate bond," Fortuna said simply. Phoebe stared at her. 

            "How?" Phoebe asked.

            "Darien can explain it better than I can," Fortuna said, "after all he's had the experience."

            Darien nodded. "Take his hand," he instructed, "and close your eyes. Now clear your mind and focus on all the times you've spent together."

            Phoebe did so. Slowly, all the images of all the times that they had spent together since they first met came to her mind.

            The night they first met. He had walked towards her with that devastatingly charming smile that instantly attracted her…

            Every kiss they had shared, every night spent in his arms, every word of love exchanged and treasured… the laughter and the tears, the sweetness and the pain…

            She could feel a connection open between them and gradually she saw, through all their memories, a cord of silver and gold.

            _That's it, she dimly heard Darien's voice in her mind, __that's the connection. Now hold on to it and let it pull you in. _

            She followed Darien's instructions and let herself get pulled in by the cord. What she saw surprised her. 

            Cole's mind was a conflict of colours. There were dark, fierce shades of black with slashes of red but there were also blinding blues and brilliant whites thrown into the mix. She wandered around, hoping to find Cole.

            She found him beside a swirl of sinister mist that was being held back by a wall of what seemed to be green jade. There was a breach in it and she could see Cole standing there, trying to keep the mist from getting through the breach. Instantly she knew what he was trying to do.

            She ran towards him and helped him push. Cole looked at her in surprise. "How did you get here?" he asked. He had been trying as hard as he could to keep the Source down and under control. And he wasn't really succeeding.

            "Soulmate bond," she replied, "it's a long story which I'll tell you later." _That's provided if we actually get out of this, Phoebe thought to herself._

            _We'll try to, Cole said mentally. There were no secrets in this sort of link, no private thoughts. _

            A voice intruded. It was Darien. _All right, Phoebe, summon all the power that you have as a witch and combine that with the power of the soulmate bond. Then use that power to repair the breach._

            To her surprise, it actually worked. She watched in fascination as slowly, the breach glowed with a silvery glow and became smaller and smaller before it eventually disappeared.

            "I'll see you up there?" Phoebe said, smiling slightly as she sent a wave of love towards Cole – the equivalent of a mental caress. She could get used to this soulmate stuff.

            "Definitely," he grinned at her. "Race you back." With that he disappeared.

            The rest of the people in the room watched nervously until they saw Cole's eyes blink and open. They stared at him, apprehensive for a moment, unsure if the one who woke up was Cole or The Source. Then they saw Phoebe open her eyes and smile. "No fair," she said, "You had a head-start."

            The rest of them looked at each other in relief. It was the normal Cole.

            "Great to see you back Cole," Piper said, "you had us rather worried there."

            He grinned and sat up. "So was I. It's good to be back." 

            Phoebe looked at Cole, her expression thoughtful. Then she turned to Fortuna and said, "If I could do that alone, then wouldn't all of us combined have enough power to get rid of the Source once and for all?"

            Fortuna shook her head. "What you did was just to repair the barrier that the charm had created. Not only did you do that before there was a chance for the breach to get too big, repairing also requires much less power. The only problem was, only you could do it because of the soulmate bond and because you're a witch."

            "But isn't Darien telepathic?" Paige asked. "Why couldn't he do it?"

            "While I could enter Cole's mind, I don't have the power to repair the breach," Darien said.

            "Can the charm still last a month? How much time do we still have left?" Phoebe asked.

            "My guess?" Fortuna said, "I don't really know."

            "If you guys have a spell, I suggest we better get it done quickly," Leo said. "Even if you can still depend on the charm to last for a month – which we can't – the Seer might attack again. We can't guarantee that we'd be able to get to Cole in time."

            Cole nodded. "We can't wait any longer."

            Phoebe looked up at him, stricken. If the spell backfired… this might be the last few moments that they had together. She didn't want to lose him, not this soon. 

            Piper coughed. She knew that it was best if the two of them had some time together alone. "We actually have an idea. I'll fill you guys on it. Phoebe, could you tell Cole and come up with a spell for the Source?" Her heart went out to Phoebe. She knew all too well what it felt like knowing that someone you loved was going to die. She had experienced it once with Leo and she never wanted to go through that again.

            The rest of them got the hint and left the room.

            Cole took Phoebe's hands in his and caressed them. "I wish we had more time together too," he said softly. "But we don't." He sighed. "Phoebe, I love you more than life itself. If my death ensures your safety, then so be it."

            Phoebe wrapped her arms around him as the tears began to fall. "I know, I know. It's the same for me. Why does this have to happen to us? Why can't we just be happy without something happening to screw it up?"

            "I don't know, Phoebe. I just know that things like this happen. We can only deal with this as best as we can and accept what happens and deal."

            Phoebe sighed. "I guess living for a hundred over years _does make you learn some stuff about life, huh?"_

            Cole smiled gently. "Yeah, I've learnt a thing or two."

            Phoebe said, looking up into Cole's eyes and cupping his face in her hands, "I will always love you, no matter what happens. You know that right?"

            Cole looked at Phoebe as nodded, feeling the pain and sadness swarm his heart. He never thought that his life with Phoebe would end so abruptly. He couldn't bear to leave her. Not now, not ever. He leaned down and kissed her. There was desperation in the kiss – the knowledge that they might part and the desire to cling on to every moment that they still had.

            Phoebe reluctantly pulled away and tried to smile. "Look, we're talking about this as if it's a certain fact. The spell might still work. Come on, let's get started on it."

            Downstairs, Piper explained to Leo and Darien what she, Phoebe, Paige had come up with. "So what do you think?" she said at the end of it.

            "It just might work," Leo said. "But there's something else. The spell just splits apart Cole and The Source. Assuming that the Source is strong enough, he might be able to kill Cole the moment they split apart before the vanquish even comes into play."

            "What about combining both spells in one?" Darien asked.

            Piper shook her head. "That would require _a lot of power. Power that we don't have. At least with two spells, even if we can't vanquish the Source, there is a stronger chance that Cole will survive."_

            "All right then," Paige said. "If we've decided what are we going to do, when are we going to do it?"

            "Tomorrow?" Fortuna suggested. "Give everyone a night to rest and prepare?"

            Piper nodded. "Let's do it."

*~ To Be Continued ~*


	8. Chapter 8

Duality

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Author's Notes: I didn't have as much time to edit this as I would like since school has been really busy lately… so I hope it isn't too bad and that you'd enjoy it!

Once again, thanks to all those who have sent in their reviews, especially Barb. They've been really encouraging. : )

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Chapter Eight

            "Do you think this is going to work?" Paige asked as she arranged the white crystals on the floor of the attic. She and Piper had woken up early to set up the attic for the spell-casting later.

            "I certainly hope so," Piper said. "Phoebe and Cole have been through so much together, it's just too unfair if they can't be together." 

            Paige didn't comment. She just looked at Piper thoughtfully. "How are _you dealing with all this?" Piper asked, pulling Paige out of her reverie. _

            "I'm…ok," Paige said, surprised and a little hesitant. "Why?"

            "Just wondering. I know that you've been suspicious of Cole ever since you found out he was a demon. You haven't shown it much since then, but I know there's still some of it there," Piper explained. 

            "I admit that I'm still not really sure if we could trust Cole, especially after finding out that he's kept the fact that the Source had possessed him from us for so long – "

            "Paige, you know that he didn't have a choice – " Piper interrupted.

            "I know. Even though it was a little hard for me to believe at first. I didn't want to say anything – things were bad enough for Phoebe already. But then I thought about it and if Cole was really up to something and wanted to kill us, he could have done so earlier. He didn't _need come up with a plan as elaborate as this. Plus after thinking about just how much Cole has done for us, the love he has for Phoebe, I changed my mind and knew that I had to see what I could do to help."_

            Piper grinned, "Thanks. I know it couldn't have been easy to set aside your own doubts and suspicions – Prue used to have the same problem with Cole," a ghost of pain drifted across her face briefly, but lighter than it had ever been.

            "You guys are family. You've given me so much in the past few months, the least I could do is give some support to Phoebe when she needs it."

            Just then, a sleepy Phoebe walked into the attic. "'Morning," she said as she yawned, "you guys are up early."

            "Just setting up everything," Piper said, "did you stay up late to finish the spell?"

            Phoebe nodded. She walked to the Book of Shadows and took out a piece of note-paper that had been slipped inside. "Here it is."

            Paige took the paper from Phoebe and she Piper looked at it. "So what you're going to do is basically use most of the same ingredients for the potion that you used before and back it up with a helluva lot of power."

            Phoebe nodded. "And you'll have to say the spell twice. Once over the potion so that it's got a magic kick in it, and the second time _as the potion is taking effect, so that Cole can have enough power to break free from the Source."_

             "Sounds good," Piper said. "C'mon, let's go down and meet up with the rest."

            They walked into the kitchen to see Leo, Fortuna and Cole having breakfast. Or rather, Leo and Fortuna were eating, Cole was just watching absently.

            "Where's Darien?" Piper asked.

            "He's somewhere outside," Fortuna gestured vaguely. "Feeding. On animal. Or something. Not human." Darien had insisted that they spend the night at the manor. Not just because he was still worried about Fortuna's health, but also so that they could be there should the Halliwells need help. At present, she was still half asleep. She had never been a morning person.

            "Has anyone told you how great a conversationalist you are in the morning?" Darien said as he entered the kitchen. His face had a glow to it that made his vampiric nature all the more apparent.

            "Several times," Fortuna grumbled.

            "Not a morning person?" Paige said sympathetically. "I used to be like that."

            "So are we ready?" Leo asked.

            "We've got everything laid out, we just need to prepare the potion," Piper confirmed.

            Cole was still staring absently at nothing in particular. He was lost in his own thoughts. Today might easily be the last day of his life and a part of him still had a little trouble accepting that. Today would determine just where his life was headed.

            "Cole? Cole!" Phoebe said, waving her hand in front of Cole.

            Cole blinked as his attention refocused on what was going on in front of him. "Yeah?"

            "We'll be doing the spell in about an hour, are you ready?" Phoebe asked softly.

            "As ready as I'd ever be," Cole said wryly. Phoebe took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "Since you're not eating," she said, "you might as well go upstairs with me and prepare that potion." In actual fact, Phoebe didn't want to spend more time away from Cole than she absolutely had to. These might be her last hour with Cole and she didn't want to waste any of it.

            An hour later, the doorbell rang. Piper answered it to find a group of women standing at the doorstep. Their ages varied from those who were still in their teens and those who were in their early thirties. A woman in her twenties with long brown hair and violet eyes smiled at Piper and asked, "Is this the Halliwell residence? Darien said you needed help…"

            Piper smiled at them gratefully, "Come in and thank you for coming," she said gratefully.

            "Rhea!" Darien exclaimed, appearing from behind Piper. He had been sitting in the living room, reading. He was a vampire and so magic wasn't exactly his expertise. In cases such as this, the best help he could give was to stay put and not interfere. He had learnt that the hard way when he had tried to help Fortuna with a spell. He ended up adding the wrong ingredient and had the entire thing explode in his face. 

            "Hey Darien," Rhea grinned as they walked into the manor. Then she turned to Piper, "And this is?" she prompted.

            "Sorry about that," Darien smiled sheepishly at Piper. "This is Piper Halliwell, one of the three sisters I was telling you about. The other two of them are somewhere else in the house." 

            "Rhea Harman," Rhea said warmly. "Default spokesperson of our extremely shy coven." There was a sound of protest from the other witches. One of them said, "That's because you just can't stop talking."

            Rhea ignored that comment and asked, "So what exactly is it that you want us to do? Darien was a little sketchy on the details…"

            Just then Phoebe, Paige and Fortuna had come down the stairs to see what all the commotion was about. Leo had orbed back up to make sure that the Elders didn't notice the sudden, abnormal flurry of activity in the Halliwell manor.

            "Fortuna," Rhea greeted, smiling broadly. "It's been a while."

            "Yeah," Fortuna said, "so glad you guys could come down. We really need your help." More introductions were made, after which Piper said, "Anyway, I was about to tell them about the spell. Is everything ready?"

            "Just about," Phoebe said, "we've just left the spell to cast over the potion and we need you for that."

            "Okay," Piper said before turning to Fortuna, "Could you explain the spell to them?"

            "No problem," Fortuna assured her.

            "You guys are insane you know," Rhea said after Fortuna finished explaining the details of the spell.

            "I know," Fortuna said, "and if you choose to back out at the last minute, no one's going to blame you."

            Rhea shook her head, "We said that we'll help and we'll see this through." 

            Fortuna sighed in relief. "I was hoping you would say that." Then she shouted to people upstairs. "Everything settled?"

            "Yep," Phoebe's voice floated down the stairs, "you guys can come on up."

            They entered the attic to find Cole seated on the floor, surrounded by the white crystals. "This circle's keyed to him," Piper said, "he can't get out. Just in case the spell doesn't work…"

            Cole smiled at Piper grimly. "Let's get this show started, shall we?" he said tightly.

            Phoebe gave Cole a smile of encouragement and love. He smiled gently at her. She was the one who kept him going. If not for her, he wasn't sure if he could do this. 

            "I'm going to remove the charm we placed on you," Fortuna said. "The other side might feel unbearably strong after having been held back for so long. But it's only temporary." Cole nodded and shut his eyes, a signal for the spell to begin.

            The Nightworld coven began a soft, musical chant, their voices mixing in sweet harmony, rising and falling in a slow cadence. Fortuna sat between Cole and the coven, her feet crossed in a lotus position, her eyes closed and her brows furrowed in concentration. Darien stood over her, watching in concern, prepared to support her should she need it. Phoebe took a deep breath and threw the portion into the circle. Simultaneously, Paige added another crystal into the ring, activating it. Then, she, Paige and Phoebe held hands and said the spell, channelling all the power in their being towards Cole. Fortuna took all the power around her and amplified it, giving it an extra boost.

            Cole felt the wall between him and the Source dissipate into nothingness. Immediately he felt the Source struggle for control, just as Fortuna had predicted. Cole tried to push back the Source, summoning all his own personal energy to do so. Then, he felt a torrent of power come in from an external source. This he channelled to his struggle against the Source, trying to break the artificial bond that had been created between them and force the Source out of his body.

            For what seemed like an eternity, neither Cole nor the Source seemed to gain the upper hand. Cole was beginning to grow weary. He had no idea how much longer he could keep it up. He was so tempted to just ease the struggle for just a moment…

            A moment was all the Source needed. A moment so brief that Cole barely noticed it. All he did was to relax just a bit and the Source had been able to take advantage of that. Cole was now on the losing end.

            _Stay calm, don't panic, it's not over yet, Cole told himself, trying to keep his focus and concentration. He continued with his desperate fight, with a growing sense of futility._

            Just when he thought all was lost, he felt another presence joining him. For a while, the pressure from the Source subsided a little. An unspoken, temporary truce had been declared. Both sides would be allowed a brief respite before continuing the battle, refreshed.

            "Need help?" a voice asked in Cole's mind. A familiar voice.

            Too familiar.

            Belthazor.

            "Didn't Phoebe vanquish you?" Cole asked in surprise.

            The voice laughed. It was the same cruel laugh that Cole remembered. "I'm a part of you, Cole. However much you try to deny that fact. As long as you're still alive, I can't die. I'm merely… disembodied."

            "What the hell are you doing here?" Cole asked in anger.

            "Offering assistance," Belthazor said casually. "Face it. I need you to survive and vice versa. We can't escape from each other."

            "Oh can't we? Seems to me that Phoebe got rid of you without much trouble."

            "_That's what got you into this mess in the first place," Belthazor said impatiently. "Getting rid of me was equivalent to getting rid of half of you. Getting rid of me left a vacuum within you, interrupted your body's equilibrium, made you extremely vulnerable to possession. That's why the Source could form such a strong bond so fast."_

            Cole blinked in shock. "So what do you want me to do?" he asked, confused.

            "Embrace me, allow me back into your body," Belthazor said. 

            "No way." Cole said flatly. He did not go through so much with Phoebe just to allow Belthazor back into his life.

            "Which would you prefer? The Source or me?" Belthazor asked. "Because you can't win against the Source without me. Me at least you can control. I'm a part of you Cole, whether you like it or not. You can't deny a part of yourself and claim it doesn't exist."

            "Once again you razor-sharp logic doesn't fail to impress me," Cole said sarcastically. "Why should I agree with what you say? Having you in my body again is not much better than dying."

            "But you'll never see Phoebe again."

            "Better that than return to her as a half-demon again."

            "All right," Belthazor relented. "Accept me as part of yourself and I wouldn't vie with you for the driver's seat. In return, you'll never be able to cast me out and you wouldn't _completely ignore my presence."_

            Cole weighed his options. On the one hand, this deal was clearly to his advantage. He would still be a half-demon, but with a demon half that's kept closely in check. He could continue his live with Phoebe and he wouldn't be the defenceless human he was before. On the other hand, Phoebe might hate him from embracing his demonic half once again. Finally, after a long internal debate, Cole said, "Deal."

            He could feel Belthazor's triumph as he joined his power to Cole's. The fighting resumed. This time, with Belthazor's help, he was able to help push back the Source. Cole gathered all the power around him and prepared for one last blow against the Source. He slammed most of the power down on the bond between him and the Source, smashing it. Then he used the remaining power and forced the Source out of his body.

            He opened his eyes just in time to see the same cloaked form of the Source appear in front of him, translucent. He heard the spell spoken by Phoebe, Paige and Piper and heard the Source scream as he was vanquished. 

            Within minutes, it was over.

            In the attic, everything fell into silence, except for the usual sounds of the street outside. All of them tried to process and understand all that had just happened. Cole sighed. He now had to find some way of telling Phoebe that Belthazor was back.

 *~To Be Continued~*


	9. Chapter 9

Duality

By Risa

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Yes, this story is nearing the end. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading this part and that it answers some of your questions! Also, the idea of Belthazor's return came after reading the book Peril's Gate by Janny Wurts – one of my favourite fantasy authors. And finally, thanks to all the reviewers who have given me such great comments!

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Chapter Nine

            "It worked. It actually worked," Paige said, stunned.

            Phoebe quickly removed the crystals on the floor and flung her arms around Cole, "I was so afraid that I'd lose you…" she said. The whole time they were doing the spell they couldn't see find any sign to see if the spell was working or not. Phoebe had to force herself to push her worries and anxieties away and simply focus on the spell. 

            Cole held her tightly in his arms. "Don't worry, the Source's gone…" he said as he ran his fingers through her hair. He couldn't do it. He couldn't tell her. She looked so relieved and so happy, he didn't want to do anything to ruin that. Perhaps he could tell them about Belthazor later…

            "Leo!" Piper called. "We did it," she said with a grin after Leo orbed into the attic.

            "Welcome back to the human world," Leo said to Cole with a smile as he moved beside Piper and held her hand.

            Cole looked at the happy and relieved faces around him. No, much as he hated to, he couldn't keep the truth from them again. He had done it before and the experience was one he didn't want to repeat. "Not quite," he said softly and seriously.

            "What do you mean not quite?" Phoebe demanded, with a sense of dread. She should have known. It had all been _way too easy for there not to be a catch somewhere._

            Cole sighed. "Belthazor's back." 

            "What!" Phoebe shouted in shock as she pulled herself out of Cole's arms. "How could that be? I thought we got rid of him."

            "Phoebe, calm down," Piper said. She was shocked as well, but she knew that there was more that Cole wanted to tell them.

            Phoebe took a deep breath. "How?" she repeated.

            Cole sighed and told them what Belthazor had told them. "I had no choice," he said bleakly, "if I didn't accept his offer, I might have lost out to the Source and he could have gotten control. He felt _extremely powerful. I didn't know if you could vanquish him and I didn't want to take the risk." He paused, waiting somewhat apprehensively for a response._

            "It's okay," Phoebe said as moved over to the Book and began to flip the pages, "We could just do the spell again…"

            Cole walked over to her and pulled her hands away from the book, holding them tightly in his. "No, it wouldn't work. Belthazor said that vanquishing him was what got me into this mess in the first place. He's a part of me, Phoebe. I have to accept that, and so do you."

            Phoebe sighed as she sat down on the attic step, defeated. Piper motioned for the others to follow her out of the room to allow the two of them some privacy. Cole sat down beside her. "Is it really so bad?" he said softly. "We've just gone back to what it was like before I became human."

            Phoebe shook her head. "It's different. For the past few months, you've been human. No more dodging from bounty hunters, no more worries that you'll turn evil. It isn't so easy to go back to what it was like before."

            She saw the look of hurt pass over Cole's face which he tried to hide. "It doesn't mean that I no longer love you or want to marry you," she leaned her head against his shoulder and drew vague designs on the back of Cole's hands. "I do," she said, sighing. "But it wouldn't be as easy as before."

            Cole wrapped one arm around Phoebe's shoulder and pulled her closer. Despite the hint of reserve in Phoebe's words, he was still relieved that she still accepted him for what he was. "I know," he said, "for one, I don't know how your sisters would take it, or the Elders."

            "True," Phoebe said, "but I'm not so concerned about them. I love you, Cole Turner, and human or half-human, I'm taking what I can get. But how are you dealing with it?"

            "Me?" Cole said, surprised. "I'm fine, I've had to live with Belthazor for the past hundred years or so, the past few months were more the exception than the rule." Then he confessed, "You accepted this much better than I expected."

            Phoebe laughed. "Not really," she said, "true, Belthazor's back, but he was there before and I loved you all the same. You're still good."

            Cole smiled as he softly kissed Phoebe on the lips. "I love you," he said, when he pulled away.

            "You'd better," Phoebe said, grinning, "or I'll come after you with a sword and I promise it won't be pretty. After all, I was taught by the best."   

            Downstairs, Paige, Piper, Leo and Fortuna were waiting restlessly in the living room. Darien had left with the witches, saying that he needed to check in with Circle Daybreak.

"No sounds of fighting or screaming," Paige observed, "I think they should be okay."

            Piper sighed, "I hope so. It's strange having Belthazor back, but I guess it's not much different from before."

            "Are you sure we can trust Cole now that _he's back?" Paige said, "Shouldn't we be more careful?"_

            "He helped us before when he was still a half-demon," Piper pointed out, "it's not as different as it was before."

            "But how do we know that he's not making all this up?" Paige argued, "How do we know that he wouldn't become evil again?"

            "If he was going to become evil again, then he needn't have told us about Belthazor's return, would he?" Piper said.

            "I think we should be careful around Cole for a while," Leo said. Piper looked at him in surprise. "It's not that I'm suspicious of Cole," Leo said quickly, "it's just that we don't know what his evil half has up his sleeve. Cole might not have as much control over him as we think."

            "You don't have to worry, whitelighter," Zimei said as she appeared in the room, "The terms of the agreement will hold. Cole wouldn't become evil again."

            "Where were you?" Fortuna said irritably.

            "I was helping Leo distract the Elders," Zimei replied innocently. "He wouldn't have been able to do it alone."

            Leo glared at Zimei. "So you were the one who were sending the imps after all the witches."

            "Imps?" Paige said blankly.

            "Someone was sending imps after all the new witches to pester them. They aren't deadly, but they can be a real menace. And they're difficult to catch. These witches aren't familiar enough with their powers to find them and get rid of them. The Elders were busy summoning all the free whitelighters to help expel the imps. They can't kill the witches directly, but they could do something that might cause someone to die or get hurt."

            Piper and Paige looked at Zimei in shock. Fortuna just sighed.

            "They wouldn't have done anything dangerous," Zimei protested, "I threatened them not to. Besides," she smiled sweetly, "I knew you lot will be able to handle it."

            Leo glared at Zimei. "Even then…"

            Piper interrupted Leo. "Zimei, could you _please not do that again? And are you sure those imps didn't do any permanent damage?"_

            "No, they didn't," Zimei said, "and if they did, I've already made up for it. And yes, I won't do it again." She grinned mischievously and said, "After all, one shouldn't reuse the same tactics."

            Piper sighed. Zimei's methods were a little… underhanded but there again, she had told them before that she didn't work for good. There was nothing Piper could do and since there wasn't any serious damage, they just had to let it go. She decided to change the topic. "Why are you so certain that Cole wouldn't become evil?"

            "You just have to trust me on this," Zimei said, her voice becoming serious, "What Cole told you is true. Cole's demonic half is under control, or I'll be able to tell. All of us who have to serve the Balance have been taught how to tell if someone's good or evil. And the radar says that Cole's not evil."

            Fortuna nodded in agreement. She looked at Zimei suspiciously for a while before saying, "Zimei, could I talk to you in private?" She glanced at the others, asking the same question. They nodded.

            Fortuna pulled the ghost to the kitchen with her. "Did you have something to do with this?" she demanded.

            "With what?" Zimei said, confused.

            "With Cole getting his demonic half back," Fortuna said exasperatedly. "What else could I be referring to?"

            "Where did you get that idea?"

            "You said before that Cole was supposed to work for us. Now, if he was half-demon, that would make him balanced between good and evil – just the right person. So, why shouldn't you have interfered?"

            "Flattering as it is to have you think of me as being omnipotent," Zimei said dryly, "I didn't have anything to do with this. _Think child, Belthazor and Cole are basically two sides of the same person. You can't just get rid of one side as easily as that. And why shouldn't Belthazor intervene? As I said, they're basically part of the same person, if one dies, so would the other."_

            Fortuna looked at Zimei apologetically, "I guess you're right." Then something occurred to her. "If that's the case, why didn't Cole die when Belthazor was vanquished?"

            "You really need to get sharper," Zimei sighed. "The spell treated Cole and Belthazor as two separate entities. It thus had only enough power in it to vanquish half of Cole. And since when could you vanquish just half a person?"

            "So what it did was just separate the two of them, which was what left Cole vulnerable to possession by the Source," Fortuna said slowly.

             Zimei nodded. "As for Cole working for us, he probably wouldn't for a long time. Phoebe's on the side of good, remember? Working for the Balance might require him to go against good, and it will be difficult for him to do that." She smiled sadly. "You've been lucky Fortuna. Ours can be a rather lonely road. Let Cole enjoy what he has."

            "Compassion, Zimei?" Fortuna said in mock shock, but there was a gentle smile on her face.

            "I'm getting soft," Zimei said with a grin.

            "C'mon then softie, let's get back outside."

            Late that night, Cole found himself lying in bed, unable to sleep. He felt uneasy. Despite what he told Phoebe, he actually felt different from the days when he was a half-demon. Within him, he felt as if there were two distinct, separate beings, something which he never felt before. There seemed to be no explanation for it. But Cole was also worried. Did this mean that he had less control over the evil within him than he had before?

            He got out of bed quietly and carefully, not wanting to disturb Phoebe who was still sleeping soundly. He decided that he needed to just walk around for a while, to work out the nervous energy racing around him. He had reached the living room when he heard a voice behind him.

            "Can't sleep?"

            He turned to see Zimei standing behind him. The darkness of the house made the light surrounding her more obvious. "What are you doing here this late?" he asked.

            "Just checking on my niece," Zimei said, "she overstretched herself today, and is just beginning to feel the effects. If I don't do something, she's going to have a massive headache tomorrow. So why are _you still up?"_

            "I just couldn't sleep," Cole said. 

            "It's about re-joining with Belthazor, isn't it?" Zimei said.

            Cole sighed. "It's strange. I feel as if there are two people inside of me – myself and Belthazor. The Belthazor half isn't doing anything at the moment but I just have this feeling that it isn't going to last."

            "You know what your problem is?" Zimei said. "You're treating your human and demon halves as two entirely separate entities. They aren't. It's only when you accept Belthazor as part of yourself – which you did before – will you have control over him. Otherwise, you'll probably go mad."

            "I _have accepted him – "_

            "No, you haven't," she interrupted. "You have accepted him back into your body, yes. But you're still distancing yourself from your evil half. If you regard your demonic half as a separate being, then that's what's going to happen. Then you'll either go mad or lose control."

            "So what you're saying is that I've got to assimilate my demonic half into my human half?"

            Zimei nodded. "That's the problem with the spell that Phoebe did to get rid of your demonic half. It made you think that he was something entirely separate."

            "All right, let's try it." He closed his eyes and focused himself inward, following Zimei's instructions. After a long while, he opened his eyes in surprise. "It worked," he said. He felt a sort of balance within. Belthazor was simply the evil aspect of himself, just a slightly more intensified version of the evil that was within all humans. Something that he had control over and something that could grow weaker with time. "Thanks," he told Zimei.

            "No charge," she said, grinning.

            "I wanted to ask you this before, but we just didn't have the time. What happened after we got rid of the organisation? How did you die?" Cole asked.

            "I never told you this before but my soulmate was like Darien, a lamia. I had actually been sent to kill his family – you do remember that I was an assassin?" 

            Cole nodded. Zimei had told him that story before, about how people from the side of good had killed her family so that they couldn't interfere against them. She had been left at the doorstep of the headquarters of an assassin guild and had been brought up by them. It was not until her teens that she found out about the Balance. 

            "Well, that's how we met actually. I was trying to get an opening into their household when I met him. I didn't realise he was my soulmate until later. But I still had to do what I came to do – to repay the debt I owed the person who hired me. Not long, before we were supposed to be married, I made an excuse to carry out what I was supposed to do with you. After that, I came back and I decided that I couldn't marry him. I had betrayed him. I decided to just complete what I came to do and leave. But they found me out." She paused, taking a deep breath. 

            "Anyway, even after knowing what I had done, he still tried to help me escape. I refused to because I know that he would suffer the consequences if I did. I killed myself in the end so that he would escape any implication." The expression on Zimei's face was one of pain and sadness. 

            Cole didn't know what to say just then. This was the last thing he expected. His heart went out to Zimei in sympathy. He had gone through something similar to that with Phoebe and he knew that under the same circumstances, he would have done the same thing.

            "Anyway, that was a long time ago," Zimei said, forcing the memories to the back of her mind. "You'd better get some sleep."

            Cole nodded. "I'm sure you'll see him again someday," he said.

            "I hope so," Zimei said sighing, before she vanished as silently as she had appeared.

            "Do you guys have to leave so soon?" Phoebe said, as she showed Fortuna and Darien to the door.

            Fortuna nodded. "We've still got things to do back at home. But once that's done, we'll be able to come visit," she said, grinning. "You won't get rid of us so easily."

            "Hopefully things would be a lot calmer next time," Phoebe said wryly. "Thank you for everything," she added softly.

            "We were just doing what we were supposed to do," Fortuna said. "You guys take care all right?"

            Phoebe nodded and smiled. As she watched the two of them leave, she felt a sense of peace and calm. The threat of the Source was now gone and their lives could finally assume something close to normality. She looked out at the bright morning sun and knew that it was going to be a beautiful day. 


End file.
